Page 7 (2/2)

"It was a story on one of the pseudo-news shows, the ones that do the news, but all the news revolves around celebrities"

"I know the type" I could tell fro impatient with my story

"They announced the noe must have been from last year’s award ceremony, because you and your date were on the red carpet all dressed up"

Jack blew out a rush of air "My date? YouJack say her name made my claws coether?" Jack’s question was seeking confir the validity of h I did feel a little queasy when the reporteron her finger this year from you"

"I’m sorry, babe Jenna’s publicist has kept ru for years I never cared because it helped sales and I really didn’t give a shit what anyone thought I’ll ames"

"Thank you, I’d appreciate that My ured out what I aure out so she saw the story today as well and I am not sure what to tell her"

Jack spoke solerapher and had sex with more women than I can count?"

Jack was quiet for a minute "Is that how you think of me, Syd?" His voice was low and sounded pained

I tensed at the sadness of his tone I hadn’thonest I had no idea what to tell my family and friends now that the dark side of Jack’s life had coht It’s just that et it They don’t really know you and I don’t want their opinion to be based on some stereotype they took from a movie about Bob Guccione"

"I care what you think, Syd, and I didn’t think you judged me as a person based upon the type of businesses I run"

"I don’t, and I don’t want others to judge you either"

We talked for a little while longer, but the dae had been done and there was a tension between us even eup I wondered how my heart could be filled with such love for a man and yet I was able to hurt him so easily

The best part of my friendship with Sienna was that she told me the truth, even when I didn’t alant to hear it The night afteraround, even after our show I told Sienna about my talk with Jack and tried hard to repeat exactly what had been said

"So you basically told him you were embarrassed of him," Sienna said matter-of-factly, as she popped a handful of peanuts from the bar into her mouth

"No! I didn’t say that I told him my parents wouldn’t understand and I didn’t want them to think badly of him" My tone was definitely defensive

"Syd, why didn’t you want your parents, or anyone for that matter, to find out about Jack’s production business?"

"Because I didn’t want thenant

"What did Jack do that they would judge hie hied based on who and what they affiliate with, like it or not"

"And since you are with Jack, people will judge you based on how they perceive hiuess so"

"So you are concerned about you, not only about Jack You basically told him that you were eht I wanted so badly to tell her that I didn’t care if people judged me because of Jack’s business But the truth was, I did I never stopped to think about it, but I did care what people thought Deep down I kneas shallow, but I had to be honest with myself If our roles were reversed and I realized that Jack was enificant part of me, I would be hurt rowled "Ughhh" I wanted to kick oing to do, Sienna?"

Sienna sled her eyebrows "I have a plan"

Of course she did That hy she was rade

Chapter 8

The next week and a half fleith back to back shows and no downtier approached Sienna and I about cutting a single while ere on tour so they could work so to play in, to gain so We planned to record in Northern Italy for three days while we played venues in Milan and Florence

I couldn’t wait to tell Jack that ere going to record one of our songs Sienna and I had recorded a few songs together years ago ere younger, but it had been done in a converted garage using old equipment and a mixer who had been stoned most of the time Jack was happy that I was excited, but voiced some concern over ood idea for us to sign anything without first consulting with an agent and attorney Neither Sienna or I had ever worked with an agent, but I trusted Jack’s business acumen and was more than happy to allow his when he offered

The day before ere scheduled to begin recording, Jack overnighted Sienna and I a package with contracts to sign Although Sienna and I would have been happy just to sign whatever was put in front of us without reading, Jack insisted that we both read the contracts, and then arranged a call with our new agent to discuss the details of ere signing

Jack’s package also had an iPad with software preloaded for our video chat with the agent I was initially taken aback by the woman who appeared on the screen for our conference, especially when she introduced herself as Ryan Sealy Because of the na at us on the other side of the video chat was rooave us an overview of her background, most-revered clients and the services she provided To say her client list was impressive was an understates on Top 20 radio